Stumbling Stones - Sundays in My City

Stumbling Stones, or Stolpersteine (Struikelsteentjes in Dutch), are something I just learned about despite being here for years and having probably walked past them numerous times without ever noticing.  

The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate individuals at exactly the last place of residency—or, sometimes, work—which was freely chosen by the person before he or she fell victim to Nazi terror, euthanasia, eugenics, deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of December 2019, 75,000. Stolpersteine have been laid, making the Stolpersteine project the world's largest decentralized memorial. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein]

Stolpersteine can be found in 110 Dutch cities and at least 25 European countries. Most commemorate Jewish victims but there are also markers for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), homosexuals, the physically or mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the anti-Nazi Resistance, the Christian opposition (both Protestants and Catholics), and Freemasons, along with International Brigade soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, military deserters, conscientious objectors, escape helpers, capitulators, "habitual criminals", looters, and others charged with treason, military disobedience, or undermining the Nazi military, as well as Allied soldiers. 

There aren't any listed in my village or any of the nearby little villages so I decided to go to Maastricht where there are  225 according to Maastricht's Jewish Victims website where each of the markers can be seen along with photos of many of the individuals. The photos I found particularly compelling because I couldn't help wondering about the personalities of these people. 

We're still in "lockdown" here which is not truly a lockdown compared to our friends in France or Italy but most everything is closed except for essential shops (those selling food or medicine although you can schedule an appointment to go to a non-essential shop if you need a toaster or clothing or garden tools). So aside from going for walks or bike rides,  I've been doing my part and staying home. Yesterday, though, I decided to go to Maastricht and walk around and see some of the Stolpersteine.  

After looking through all the records and photos [All photos of people from the Maastricht Jewish Victims website mentioned above. I claim no rights to any of the photos of people. I'm crediting the source and using them only to humanize these humans (humanizing humans sounds redundant but I want them to be more than just victims.)], I decided to visit the oldest and youngest victims. I also wanted to visit a few whose photos intrigued me somehow. 

Paula Kaufmann-Daniels looks like a great aunt who would swat you with a tea towel while laughing about something you've done. She was murdered at Sobibor Extermination Camp in Poland. Simon Os looks to me like a lost member of the three stooges. He died in transport so his place of death is just listed as Middle-Europe. Paula's home is located too far outside the city center for the walk I did yesterday. I found Simon's address but didn't find the marker (and there are supposed to be 8 markers at that address).

The oldest victim was Sophie Elekan-Wesly at 87 years old.

Joop Moszkowicz was the youngest at just 2 years old. His entire family was taken (parents and two older siblings).

If you notice there are only four markers for this family and not five, that's because one of the siblings, Max, survived Auschwitz. From the website, he seems to be the only one who was deported from Maastricht who did survive although I do not claim to have done any extensive research into this. The space above his photo where a picture of his marker would be just says "survived" and there is no year of death listed under his photo. That sent me down a bit of internet rabbit hole.

Max went on to be come a rather notorious lawyer in the Netherlands; defending an infamous Dutch drug lord and the Heineken kidnappers. He has four sons who all also became lawyers; three of whom were later disbarred. He is still alive at age 94.  

Here are the rest of the markers I saw yesterday:

I will definitely be noticing these more now when I'm out walking in various cities. I'll also be digging further into the life of Max Moszkowicz, the Heineken kidnappings, the Dutch Godfather, etc. 

Have you seen these where you live? What have you recently discovered in your neck of the world (yes, that was intentional)?